Bank of France, Swiss National Bank Begin Cross-Border CBDC Experiment

The banks will experiment with cross-border settlements of two wholesale CBDCs and a French digital financial instrument on a distributed ledger technology platform.

AccessTimeIconJun 10, 2021 at 11:37 a.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:09 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

The Bank of France and the Swiss National Bank are starting a joint cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment dubbed “Project Jura.” It will focus on the bank-to-bank wholesale lending market, not public transactions.

  • In an announcement Thursday, the Swiss National Bank said it will work with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and a “private sector consortium” led by Accenture, to experiment with wholesale CBDCs for cross-border settlement.
  • The private sector consortium of companies includes the Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse, Natixis, R3, SIX Digital Exchange, and UBS.
  • The Swiss National Bank said it has already been investigating tokenized assets with wholesale CBDC.
  • Project Jura will experiment with cross-border settlements of two wholesale CBDCs and a French digital financial instrument on a distributed ledger technology platform.
  • The transaction will involve the exchange of the financial instrument against a euro wholesale CBDC through a delivery (rather than payment) settlement mechanism, and the exchange of a euro wholesale CBDC against a Swiss franc wholesale CBDC through a payment versus payment settlement mechanism, said the Swiss National Bank.
  • The transactions will be settled between banks domiciled in France and in Switzerland.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.